Broadband Terahertz Silicon Membrane Metasurface Absorber

Abstract

Metasurface absorbers are of particular interest in numerous photonic applications including detectors, photovoltaic cells, and emissivity coatings. We introduce a thin membrane silicon metasurface absorber with periodic elliptical holes that, as demonstrated theoretically and experimentally, achieves very high absorption (≥90%) over a ∼500 GHz bandwidth at normal incidence. Based on the analysis of the effective medium theory, the broadband absorption is attributed to proximal electric and magnetic dipole resonances. The absorption amplitude can also be tuned by ∼20% with above-gap photoexcitation. Due to the unit cell geometry, the carrier density on the top surface and sidewalls of the membrane must be taken into account. Our dynamic membrane silicon metasurface absorber is notably thin and CMOS-compatible, providing a promising platform to realize compact terahertz devices including detectors, modulators, and switches.